Adventures Of Italia
by goldenlab2000
Summary: Ivan, a Russian solider killed at a very young age, was given a second chance at life. But, instead of using his new life for good, he decides to get revenge in the worst way possible. Feliciano, a small town boy, must stop Ivan with the help of his two friends, Ludwig and Kiku, must stop Ivan before he turns their world upside down. (rated T for language and violence)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One (track: Legend Of Zelda, Island in the sky)

The sun shone bright on the small town, its soft glow filling the town with light, happiness and joy. The little children ran about, the sound of horses hooves around almost every turn on the stone streets, it had never snowed in this town once. Surrounded by shallow flowing river and peaceful fields, the town already gave a happy welcoming glow to travelers- though being so close to what was one of the most unhappy places on earth, a dense, black forest, ice cold with black skinny branches threatening to grab you at every turn. This black forest surrounded the dreadful Northern pillar, home of the air shard, and guarded by one of the most insane villains on earth. Few dared to go there, and when one did, they were easily out matched by the speed and power of the north guardian.

But that was a hundred years ago, it was all in the past and only lived on in children's fairy tales. The black forest had disappeared, along with the floating north pillar, thanks to the goddess. But none now took this story seriously; it was just a story of myth and magic, the Northern pillar and its guardian being a part in it.

Alongside the town, the small slow flowing stream was disrupted by the pounding of horse hooves.

A curse echoed through the air quickly as the white horse sped on, "Feliciano, you idiot we passed the lake!"

"We're not going to the lake, I told you this!" A cheery voice said.

Lovino tightened his grip on the younger brother's shoulders, "Did we really have to take this goddamn horse? I hate horses, and I hate this!"

"We're almost there, down swear!" Feliciano cried out, kicking his horse, Alessa, in the stomach, causing the white flash to jump up, and then speed up.

"Feliciano your horse is to slow!" With that, Alessa gave out a whinny and charged faster, leaping over a log in the tall grass. Feliciano, hugging the horse's neck, called out to his brother: "See, Lovi? She likes you!"

"Well I hate her!" The other Italian snapped back, hugging his brother's waist.

The two brothers charged on, bear back on the white horse, flying past a few small trees. Feliciano felt the need to stop, yelling the command word in Italian at the horse. After taking a few strides, the horse gracefully stopped at a halt. The first brother hoping down off the light grey horse, helping the second off. Alessa immediately went to eating the tall grass below her feet.

"Ah, it's right about…" Feliciano paused, walking around and pushing a few stones to the side, "here!" The red-head dropped to his knees, his older brother watching him closely, he slid off the white shoulder bag, un-buttoning the cross-shaped button, revealing two small shovels.

"Lovi, wanna help?" Feliciano chirped happily.

"Why are we doing this, anyways?" Lovino sighed, getting on his knees next to his brother, picking up the small metal shovel.

"That bird told me to!" Feliciano laughed, pointing to the small white Falcon perched on a branch neatly, watching the two twins.

"You need to see a doctor,, but this beats working at that damned tomato farm," Lovino said plainly, sticking the shovel into the ground, "How long will we be here for?"

"Until we find what Pangaea told me to look for!"

Lovino sighed, "Feli the goddess did not tell you to find anything, this whole thing is stupid."

"Well, I mean the bird! Pangaea is the bird! She told me it's important."

Lovino laughed sarcastically, "Feliciano," suddenly the older brother lashed out at the younger, "You idiot!"

Feliciano screamed, "Don't kill me, Lovi! I-I didn't mean it!"

"You're such a wussy!" The older brother hissed, but after that no more remarks came from the both of them. The two of them started to dig, even though Lovino really didn't want to, but he was still kind of curious. And it beat working with his care taker.

Suddenly Feliciano's shovel hit something hard, the shovel stuck in it and the two brothers yanked the shovel out.

"Wood?" Lovino muttered, peering into the small hole.

"It's more than wood, I hope," Feliciano said, digging his fingers into the cracks in the wood, trying to yank it out of the dirt. Lovino grabbed his brother around the chest and started to pull too.

Suddenly the wooden object was freed, sending the two brothers flying backwards, Feliciano laying on top.

" You idiot!" Lovino screamed, sending his brother off him.

"I'm sorry! It just came lose all the sudden!" Feliciano cried, his hands flying up like a cop had just spotted him.

Lovino snorted, "Fine, let's see what this is…" He pulled the wood away from Feliciano. The two brothers looked upon it in awe. It was just a wooden box, but it was pretty big and had a huge golden color lock on it (whether it was actually gold or was just colored pretty was unsure).

"Oh great it has a lock on it, now how the hell are we supposed to get this open!?" Lovino sighed in anger, poking at the lock.

Feliciano laughed, "Pangaea told me to wait a few seconds," suddenly the small falcon glided down from its perch and landed on the chest. It looked at the both of them and unhinged the lock with a free talon. The bird quickly flapped its wings and flew off.

Feliciano snapped open the snap on the wooden chest that originally held the lock. He slowly opened it, and the two peered inside. Over a thin sheet of fuzzy red paper, laid a large blue orb. It looked as if made out of glass, but was yet hard and looked extremely challenging to break. The blue sphere compared to the box was pretty big, and almost took up the whole thing. Feliciano gently lifted the circle, balancing it on the tips of his fingers while his older brother watched in awe.

"What is it?" Lovino asked. Feliciano took the sphere out of its container. The wooden box flashed and the linings were the box was opened turned a sun yellow, and the rest of the box turned a light baby blue.

Feliciano and Lovino screamed while Feliciano dropped the ball and let it roll a few feet away.

"What the hell?"

"W-why did it do that!"

"Feliciano that thing is dangerous!"

"I-I didn't know!"

After the brothers screamed for a few minutes, Feliciano calmed down (a little) and decided to pick up the orb once again to investigate it further. Before he laid his hand on the sphere again, the orb started to glow and grew a bump, which continued to extend into a long 'tail'. The brothers resumed panicking in the dirt as the sphere tuned into a staff. It stopped glowing, and the sphere now had a milky white stick at its end, with dark blue swirls decorating it. Feliciano poked it, and now the staff stood still, doing nothing.

"Hey, look at this!" Feliciano laughed, picking up the staff and slowly standing up, "This is pretty cool!" He started to wave the staff around, poking and prodding the air like it was a toy sword.

"Feliciano be careful with that thing, you idiot!" Lovino cried, still sitting in the dirt, demanding his younger sibling to stop playing with the staff.

"Look, I'm Ludwig!" Feliciano positioned himself and hit the tree with the staff seeming like he was about to hit a homerun with it. Before striking the tree, the sphere at the end of the staff started to shine again, and morphed into an ax-head. The ax quickly chopped down the small tree, causing it to fall with a very quiet thud, followed by a short ruffling.

Lovino screamed once more, falling over into the dirt, "I swear to Pangaea Feliciano-!" He shrieked.

Feliciano just kind of stared at his new found… object. He was dumbfounded by it, first it was a shiny circle, then it was a staff, and now it was an ax with a very long handle. He turned around to look at his brother, "Lovino… I have an ax!" Feliciano cheered happily, "I've been saving up for an ax!" The ax-head quickly morphed back into its sphere shape in a flash of light blue light. Feliciano laughed, "This thing is awesome! Maybe Ludwig knows more about it, he's good with this stuff!" Feliciano kept on babbling on and on about how cool his new found ax-staff-ball was, he started to point it in every direction. Once in the north direction, the orb at the end briefly was a deep purple, and it was so light the two didn't notice.

"Once Ludwig gets back from his job we should go ask him," Feliciano said, kneeling next to Lovino.

"No way! The last thing I want to do is see that stupid idiot!" Lovino hissed, shakily getting up. Without warning, a black flash of lighting quickly dashed out from the forest a few yards away from the two Italians.

It was no other than Mitternacht, one of the fastest horses in the town. On top of the black horse were Ludwig and Kiku, Feliciano's two closest friends. Ludwig was an expert blacksmith, and because of lack of supplies he gave up the job and became a lumber jack.

"C'mon, Lovino!" Feliciano laughed, twisting the staff into the strap on his shoulder bag, "Let's go!"

"No way," Lovino hissed, brushing himself off, "I'm walking home, see you later stupid."

"Alright, Lovi, see you at home!" Feliciano said. He mounted Alessa and took off like a white flash of lighting through the fields of tall grass. Her hooves sent the long weeds to fly lose, sending clumps of dirt through the air. Before colliding with the black horse's trail, Alessa swerved to the side, and the two horses carried on, parallel to each other. Ludwig's usually neat stiffend back blonde hair was now messy and down in front of his eyes. Kiku looked somewhat at peace but yet spacey at the same time, like he always did.

"Feliciano? What are you doing so far out of town!" Ludwig yelled, surprised to see the younger man and his horse following there trail.

"I have something to show you! It's important, I think!" Feliciano yelled over the pounding of horses hooves.

"It's going to have to wait until we get into town, it's getting late and wolves come out at this time of night," Ludwig yelled, keeping his eyes on the front.

"Okie dokie!" Feliciano yelled at the same time as waving at Kiku, who was clinging on to Ludwig's back for dear life.

"Hello," Mouthed Kiku, giving a small hand gesture, than using his hand to cling back onto the German's backpack.

Feliciano smiled back at Kiku, and then re-directed his attention back to the fields in front of him, the dirty white horse continuing to stampede on.

Back in the town square, the three men parked there horses and got dinner. The sun hung low in the sky, turning the sky around it a deep orange and the clouds a light pink. A few stars had appeared, and the moon was somewhat visible. The night cold chill started to fill the air, but it was somewhat pleasant. The soft breeze throughout the almost open town circle with the dim lanterns being lit was quiet peaceful.

The three had already finished there dinner by this time, and were just casually talking like any normal night. The staff had totally slipped Feliciano's mind, even though it was so incredible and it was strapped onto his back.

After a while a topic escaped all of their minds, Kiku remembered finally what Feliciano had asked to show them. "Ah yes, Feliciano, it almost pasted me but what were you going to show us?"

"Oh yeah!" The Italian said happily, starting to pull out the staff from his shoulder bag, "Me and Lovi found this while we were outside, Pangaea told me to look for it… I was wondering what it was? Because it did a lot of cool stuff and-!" Ludwig and Kiku stared at the staff intensely. Kiku opened his mouth slightly to make words, and Ludwig knew it was from somewhere, but couldn't seem to remember where it came from.

"F-Feliciano…?" Kiku shot a look at the younger German still locked on the staff, "I think that's…" The Japanese man briefly swallowed down every part of his body telling him to freak out, which was extremely rare for him, and he softly smiled. "Feli, that is a special staff you have. You have to keep it close to you at all times, never lose sight of it. Don't ever give it to anyone, you have been trusted with it," Kiku said softly, still trying to remain his cool. The thought of what the staff was hit Ludwig dead on in the head at that very moment, as he turned to look at Kiku, his expression growing to shock. Kiku, looking back at Ludwig put his pointer finger in front of his lips telling Ludwig to; "Don't say anything."

Feliciano's expression quickly changed from normal happy, to over happy. "Awesome! What does it do, who is it from, what does it mean? Oh my god this is awesome! I finally have my own ax… Thing!" He yelled happily. Without warning the excited Italian swung his staff over his shoulder and forced it into the ground, as expected it quickly morphed into an ax and struck the ground with a loud 'thunk!' Ludwig and Kiku quickly let out a small shriek in response, and everything they had done to get the excitement down came right back up. "Cool, right?" Feliciano said laughing, turning to the both of them and positioned the ax over his shoulders.

Ludwig laughed sarcastically, "Y-yes, very cool, Feli…"

"Uh, h-how about we head home, it's getting kind of late?" Kiku said, shaken up.

"Y-yes, that's a good idea Kiku, I'm tired from work today…" Ludwig said shakily, putting his own ax in his bag.

"U-um, okay guys! I'll see you tomorrow then!" Feliciano said, a bit unsure at why his friends were acting so strange, but he then whipped all the doubt from his mind, "Goodnight!" Feliciano strapped his ax (which had no transformed back into a staff by now) back around his shoulder bag, making his way back home. Feliciano was proud of himself that someone somewhere had trusted him with something, he had no idea who it was from and what it meant, but he was proud.

"Kiku, are you sure that's the weapon?" Ludwig murmured, once Feliciano had left.

"It must me, no question. I fear the worst," Kiku sighed, "The goddess told me something big was coming, but I didn't expect something like this."

"But why him? He's so fragile… He can't just go there alone!" Ludwig shot back, a bit frustrated and over whelmed.

"I'm almost certain he won't be alone during this… and if he is, he'll be fine. The goddess has trusted him, correct?"

"Yes… but I'm just worried," Ludwig sighed, leaning up to a building.

"We all should be, but this whole thing will be settled in the morning."

"P-please help me… I don't want to go!"

"Y-you just can't do that to him! H-he didn't mean any of this! Please Pangaea-!"

"I'm sorry, love, there's no other choice…"

"W-we have to do something… None of them… This isn't there fault! Can't you help them?"

"We have no other choice, it's either that or…"

"Mathew! C'mon, you have to help me! Please!"

"I-I'm sorry… I-I can't…"

The voices quickly flashed through Feliciano's mind before coming to a quick and utter stop. Just silence. A white flash briefly appeared, and everything went black again, besides for the tall woman in a white dress standing only a few yards away. The flowers in her hair were the color of the sunset and her sandals were the many shades of water.

She softly smiled, "Hello Feliciano, I have been meaning to talk to you for quite some time."

"Pangaea!" Feliciano yelled, throwing his arms up and then around the goddess.

"I see you found my present," She said softly, hugging Feliciano back, "I now have something important to share, it's very quick, but tomorrow will be very important. You must find your friends and head down to town square, my snow messenger Mathew will be waiting for you there, he will explain everything."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Feliciano said, letting go of the woman before him, "Something's going on? Is it a party?" Feliciano cheered happily.

"Well, no, not really…" Pangaea said unsure, "It's something… Big, let's call it that. But, anyways, remember to look for my Mathew, alright?" Pangaea started to back up in a sudden panic.

"How will I know who it is?" Feliciano said, starting to follow the goddess.

"Trust me Feli, you'll know;" Pangaea said in a panic, turning both ways as if to be checking something, "I must go, sorry for our time being so short."

"Where do I go to find him though? W-wait!" Feliciano called, running after the goddess. The black floor beneath the two suddenly started to shake, and small dots of white started to rain down slowly. The goddess looked back at the shaken up Italian trying to follow her once more, and took off in the shape of the white falcon form she had been in earlier. Before the falcon twisted in midair disappearing into the blackness, she shouted back; "Remember, just look for your friends!"

Feliciano sighed, he sat down on the black floor and started to play with a stick the came from nowhere really. The small flakes of snow shortly stopped falling, even though every snowflake disappeared when coming in contact with the earth. The shaking had calmed and everything went still. It was somewhat eerie.

"Hello?" Feliciano yelled, getting kind of bored with this, "Ms. Goddess lady! Hello?" All at once, the ground started to shake like mad, Feliciano let out a short scream, along with banging his head on the dashboard of his bed.

Once waking up from the dream, Feliciano calmed down for a few seconds. He remembered what the goddess had said to him, to look for Ludwig and Kiku. He had no doubt that this was true, and he never thought over on how this could be just a stupid dream. He sat on the edge of his bed, gently grabbing the staff that he had laid down next to the bed the night before. Feliciano took a deep breath to calm himself down from the sudden shaking in his dream.

Before he realized that it was still shaking.

Feliciano let out a small scream, "What is going on?" He cried out pathetically, hugging the staff close to his body.

"You idiot, It's just a small itsy bitsy little earthquake, calm down!" From the upper bunk above Feliciano's bed Lovino threw his pillow down at his younger brother hitting him square in the head.

"B-but it's scary!"

"Just shut up!"

After the short shaking stopped, Feliciano almost ran out the door before being stopped by Lovino; "I think you might wanna put on a shirt and pants before heading out, eh stupid?"

After getting dressed in a blue cloak type thing Feliciano went out to go find Kiku and Ludwig, who he guessed were already getting breakfast. Feliciano jogged over to the circle, there being not enough room on streets for him to take his horse. The streets were crowded as usual, newspaper salesmen already had 'the latest scoop on the earthquake' and women were trying to sell things they knitted out on the streets. But something seemed different; it was a bit colder than usual, and the wind was stronger.

Kiku and Feliciano collided on the street, Kiku jumped back away from the Italian quickly, "S-sorry Feliciano, I wasn't watching were I was going… Wait, Feliciano!"

Ludwig suddenly appeared from the crowd of people in the square, "Thank god we found you…"

"Hey guys!" Feliciano cheered, not being able to sense the amount of distress in their voices, "I had a weird dream last night, and the goddess was in it too!"

Ludwig and Kiku exchanged glances, "Um, Feli, there's something really important I need to tell you-,"

"Wait, wait, Ludwig there is no need to tell him, that's my job, eh!" A voice crept out from the crowd, followed by a teen boy –no older then eighteen- pushing his way out of the crowd, towards the three men. He had blonde, bouncy curls that fell to his shoulders, round rimmed glasses and grey eyes; he was also wearing clothes that made him look like he came straight from the artic. "'Ello, I'm Mathew, I'm almost certain the goddess told you all I was coming."

Feliciano looked at Ludwig and Kiku, and then stupidly added, "Wait, you guys had the dream too? That's so cool!"

"Feliciano…" Ludwig muttered, "Try staying serous for five seconds?"

Mathew turned around, about to disappear back into the crowd, "Come, we need to discuss a few things, if you don't mind." The four disappeared through the crowd, making their way out of town circle, maneuvering past handfuls of people and animals.

The four men passed the town circle, quickly walking through a short patch of field, and up a hill to the church. It was silent, only a small breeze blew by, causing the long blades of grass to dance and spin. The large tree above the church rustled softly, creating almost a melody.

"He we are," Mathew said carefully, un-wrapping the scarf that hung around his neck with the small murmur; "Jeez it's hot here." He carefully pushed the doors open, which caused a long creaking noise.

"Why are we here? Nobody's used this place for centuries…" Ludwig asked, looking around at the moss covered walls.

"Exactly, we don't want to, um, scare anyone," Mathew said nervously, looking around, "Kuma? Kuma!" The Canadian called, searching the church for something. A roar echoed through the quiet church, and slowly a huge polar bear crept out from a corner, groggily yawning.

Feliciano shrieked, hiding behind Ludwig. "What the hell?" Ludwig screamed, taking out the ax from his shoulder bag.

"Guys calm down!" Mathew said angrily, "The two weather guides are blessed with a mounting animal, mine is this bear, and he's friendly!" The Canadian put his hand down on the bear's head and gave it a brief scratch, "His name's Kumajero."

Kiku nodded solemnly, "I think you should explain to Feliciano and Ludwig why we're here in the first place."

"Well I know partially what is going on, Kiku," Ludwig replied back.

"My apologies, Mr. Ludwig," Kiku said softly.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that," Mathew sighed, "You all know the legend of the four pillars, correct?"

"Yes sir!" Feliciano cheered happily. Ludwig and Kiku nodded.

"Then let me just skip to the ending of the story," Mathew said, kneeling down next to the giant bear, "That a hundred and one years ago before Ivan and the pillars were locked out of our world, the goddess needed to give up some of her power to do so, and by that I mean a lot of power. Since the sun watcher and I held much of the goddess' power, we too were locked out of time for those a hundred years. Once we were both freed, the Goddess knew something bad about to happen. And it is. It's been going on for a while now, Ivan has been planning, but now everything is about to hit full swing."

"What do you mean by 'full swing'?" Ludwig asked, somewhat frustrated.

"The weather, the guardians, everything involved with Ivan's original plan." Mathew sighed, "Along with me and the sun watcher being freed, the guardians were too… And we can't just lock them up this time…"

"Wait a second," Ludwig muttered, catching on to what Mathew was about to tell them, "Are you telling me, that he-.." Ludwig pointing to Feliciano, "He is going out there, to kill the pillars?"

"Well um the thing about that is…" Mathew said nervously, "N-no, not totally, eh."

"What do you mean not totally?" Ludwig hissed, starting to get frustrated. Kiku put his hand on Ludwig's shoulder, "Mr. Ludwig calm down…"

"Well, you see, you're going with him," Mathew muttered, looking at the three men before him. Before Ludwig could shoot something back at the Canadian, Mathew quickly kept talking, "And you don't necessary have to kill them…"

"Not killing the pillars?" Feliciano said after being quiet for some time, "But how would we get the element crystal thing-y?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot not everybody knows that…" Mathew muttered to himself, "Well, the pillar guardian's aren't bad people… Ivan brainwashed all of them, and they have no idea what they're doing…" Mathew suddenly looked like he was going to throw up, but got right back in to the beat of things, "Rumor says that there is a moment that they all have after serious injury or a lot of inflicted pain that they remember everything," Mathew sighed, "you'll know when it happens."

"How will we know, Mathew?" Ludwig hissed.

"Y-you'll just now, trust me, eh." Mathew muttered, "But, beside the point, you will all have to go face the pillars, and then Ivan. You must all leave together by sunrise at least, we don't know how long we have until Ivan stirs up the weather big time. There could be many fatalities if you don't hurry…"

"Shouldn't you explain this a little bit more?" Ludwig said, frustrated, "you're just telling us 'oh you got to go ahead and kill-,"

"Or bring back," Mathew added.

"'…Or bring back, the pillar guardian's, the strongest mortal's in the world.'? How the hell are we even supposed to land a hit on North, he's much too fast for our horses!"

"Oh yes, my comrade Hercules will explain that a bit later, you'll know him when you see him, he rides on a huge tiger and he's pretty hard to miss," Mathew said, "But I'll say it simply, you all have…" Mathew paused for a moment, thinking of the right word, "Powers, if I should call it that. Hercules will explain later. But you need to get ready for this, it's a long journey ahead. Get your horses ready and bring no one but yourselves and your horses."

"You just expect us to go into-!" Ludwig shouted angrily, before getting cut off by Kiku.

"Ludwig, we have too," Kiku said calmly, "It's either that or…" Kiku trailed off, and ended with; "We better get ready, Ludwig."

"Fine," Ludwig muttered, "We'll being seeing you, Mathew."

"Of course," Mathew said softly.

"Bye!" Feliciano chirped, following Ludwig and Kiku who already exited the church.

"Wait, Feliciano!" Mathew called, fast walking up to the Italian who had stopped just as Mathew had wanted, "Okay, well, basically not t-to put any pressure on you… Our land, and possibly this world is counting on you, the goddess chose you for a reason." Mathew said quietly, putting his hands on the Italian's shoulders, "And, I didn't want to tell the other two this, but the Northern Pillar's guardian is my older brother, and we loved each other dearly when we were little, and I'm counting on you to bring him back for me, can I trust you to do this one favor, please?"

Feliciano smiled, "Yea, I can do that! I think…?"

"Thank you," Mathew smiled softly, "Just try, please… Oh yeah, just a warning, if you do bring him back he's kind of an asshole so be careful." Mathew laughed, "Good luck, Feliciano." Mathew clicked his tongue and the polar bear slowly came after him, Mathew mounted the bear quickly, and saluted the young Italian. Mathew, pushing through the doors of the church, bounded off on top of the bear and disappeared into the south.

Feliciano felt proud of himself leaving that church. Clutching his staff, the young Italian had no idea what he was getting into. Neither did the other two, really.

As Feliciano sprinted to catch up to his friends a small spec of snow fell to the ground. A blizzard was starting in the town where it has never snowed, once.

The next morning the sun rose slowly. Shades of pink reflected of the clouds, the sky around the sun a light orange. But off in the distance there was a massive pile of black storm clouds swirling were the Northern pillar used to be.

Feliciano had a large saddle laid across Alessa's back, which held three small bags and one big one, plus Feliciano's shoulder bag. The staff was twisted up in the strap on Feliciano's shoulder bag, keeping it in place. Ludwig's horse had most of the big supplies such as blankets.

"You have your ax, Ludwig?" Kiku said, sitting on top of Mitternacht, checking through all the bags to make sure nothing was missing.

"Yes, you have your sword?" Ludwig said, looking around thinking of things that would also be needed for the journey.

Kiku nodded, "Feliciano, you have the staff?"

"Of course!" Feliciano yelled happily. Soon after the three started packing a small crowd of mostly young children have gathered to watch them.

"Alright, I think we're ready to go," Ludwig muttered, zipping the bag above Mitternacht's hind legs. The black horse whinnied softly.

"Wait, mister," A small child with ripped jeans and a shirt that was clearly too small for him walked up to Feliciano, "Are you going to slay the winged thing my friends and I saw yesterday?"

"They're closer than we thought, Ivan must know of this already, we have to hurry," Kiku muttered softly to Ludwig.

"Um, well, I really don't know yet!" Feliciano chirped happily, patting the child on the head. The kid nodded and slowly backed away.

"Feliciano, we should go-," Ludwig said before a scream cut him off.

"Feliciano, you idiot!" The sudden embrace of his brother shocked Feliciano. Lovino sobbed onto his shoulder loudly, "Y-you! How d-dare you leave me?"

Antonio, Lovino's older brother shortly followed after, with somewhat of a disappointed expression. "Feli, you can't actually be leaving! You just can't go out there, it's dangerous!"

"It'll be alright, I'll be fine!" Feliciano said, softly hugging his brother back who quickly pushed away from him, "I'll be home soon."

"Feliciano, you don't get it do you-?" Antonio said softly, putting his hand on the Italian's shoulder. Lovino hid behind him.

"I'll be fine; I've got Ludwig and Kiku with me! It'll be fun, too!" Feliciano chirped, looking up at Antonio, "and anyways I have to do this!"

Antonio sighed, not wanting to coax the young Italian out of this anymore. He did have to do this, after all.

"Be careful, s-stupid…" Lovino said whipping away the tears, "I-it's not like I'll miss you or anything though."

"I'll be home soon, Lovi, I promise!"

Antonio walked up to Ludwig, still upset that he was letting Feliciano go. "Please keep my Feliciano safe," He said, looking at Ludwig.

Ludwig nodded, "He means a lot to both of us, I could never think of losing him."

"Good, just make sure you all get home."

A lighting strike went off in the distance, flashing a bright purple. "We should get going," Kiku said, watching the North direction, "The sooner the better."

"Bye, Lovi, I'll miss you!" Feliciano turned to get on his horse, giving one last smile at his brother.

"Be careful…" Lovino whispered, then adding a 'idiot' to the end of his sentence.

"We will, I promise!" Feliciano said for the last time.

And so, the three men took off into the dawn of morning. Having no clue what was around the next corner, or where they were going next. All they knew was to head north. The horses picked up a fast trot, weaving in and out of the path, splashing through the river and into the thin woods surrounding the town.

"Ludwig, you do realize we might not come back?" Kiku whispered under his breath, making sure Feliciano didn't over hear them as he followed them on his horse.

"I know, Kiku," Ludwig sighed, "We just have to try."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Over the Northern pillar rain fell silently, slipping off the glass tiles of the floating foundation. The large black clouds had started to travel into the south, a snow storm brewing.

"Mister North!" A voice called down from below the structure, "Hello?" Waiting for the young guardian to possibly come out of his pillar, if he was even there, was even younger Ravis, one of Ivan's newest 'servants'. Ravis didn't exactly want to work for Ivan, but if he refused he would most likely get crushed. His voice was drowned out by the rain slapping agenst the mud that used to be hard compacted soil.

Ravis had been waiting outside for what seemed hours was only fifteen minutes but he was totally drenched and freezing cold from the downpour. "Please, I need to talk to you! Hello?" Ravis yelled up again, no answer. He sighed and sat in the mud next to his small black horse.

Suddenly the see-through stairs appeared out of thin air from the pillar's door, softly glowing light red. "Thank you," Ravis sighed, getting up and walking up the stairs slowly.

"Dude you're such an idiot! You stood in the rain screaming for me for like thirty minutes!" a voice from inside laughed, "Good thing nobody's around or you would look so totally stupid!"

"Mister North, I uh, have an important message from-," Ravis shortly got cut off by the young guardian, who was now standing in front of the door way, dark red eyes gleaming back.

"No, no, no, stop." The blonde said, the rain almost immediately stopping, "Now, what was so important to interrupt my time? I'm busy you know."

"Um, b-busy with what, sir?" Ravis muttered.

The Northern guardian paused for a moment, not expecting that question, "Well, stuff…" He muttered, but then raising his voice "You know I've been trapped in this tiny as hell floating… thing for god knows how long, all I want to do is mess with strange people I don't know nearby."

"Yes, I realize that but it's from Ivan and it's really important!" Ravis followed the teen back inside the pillar, the floor made out of solid black that almost seemed like glass.

"Oh really?" The guardian laughed, sitting down on an indent in the light grey walls.

"Well, uh," Ravis forgot what he was going to say for a moment, 'Oh yeah, well the goddess sent three chosen warriors to-," Ravis was cut off once again by the over-stimulated American.

"That's why you stood in the rain for that long? Wow Ravis you must really think I'm weak," The guardian said with a sly curve in his voice.

"N-no sir, I think you're very strong…"

"Oh good, I thought I was going to have to kill you for a moment there," The guardian laughed, "Just kidding, just kidding. Well any who, who did the goddess send this time?"

"Well, um, North, one of them has the weapon, and as you know there coming to your pillar first," Ravis muttered nervously, he hated being around this psychopath.

"The staff?" Alfred screamed suddenly, clenching his fists together tightly. Ravis shrieked in response, taking a few steps back.

The guardian burst out into laughter, "Oh my god I got you good right there! That was awesome; you should have seen your face!"

"Oh um, y-yeah!" Ravis faked laughed, "very funny!"

"I scare people all the time with that, it's awesome!"

"Getting back on track, we're a bit concerned this time, I think the goddess has stepped up her game…"

"Yeah right," The teen laughed, "You see these?" The guardian got up from sitting and carefully spread out his huge bat-like wings, "These can out-run any living thing known to man, I'm pretty sure I'm good." North laughed, "Plus, I'm the Northern Guardian for god sake! Nothing can and will ever beat me!" The wings quickly disappeared into a black smoke afterward.

"Yes sir, we have total faith in you, Alfr-," Ravis stopped himself from finishing his sentence. A total fear and panic struck him, the guardian's pride turning into a glare of confusion and rage.

"What did you just call me?" He growled, a black mist coming from thin air and forming the huge wings again, which slowly unfolded as he crept towards the younger male.

"N-nothing sir!"

The guardian sighed, the grey wings folding onto his back slowly, "Good," He muttered, "Now I'm going to go," walking to the door of the pillar, the young guardian faced Ravis one last time, "I've got some business to take care of." The Guardian slowly fell back, heading towards the ground. Spreading out his large wings quickly, he shot strait up into the air, doing a spiral to show off to Ravis 'how awesome he was'. A hole opened up in the black clouds, letting the guardian through and then closing once again, surrounding the pillar in a damp and dark feeling.

"Thank god I'm still alive," Ravis whispered to himself, walking down the almost clear steps on the way out of the pillar.

"It's a good thing you're afraid of me, you know?" The teen appeared in front of Ravis, hanging upside-down in the air. North laughed as Ravis screamed, flinching back from the shock. "Kay, anyway, bye dude." He finialy said, swooping upward with the large grey wings, which you would expect to make much noise, but were actually silent.

The thick snow was blinding, the horses were starting to panic. It was freezing, or, more freezing than the three had expected it to be.

"Feliciano, any sign of anyone? Anything?" Ludwig screamed, his voice being drowned out by the snow.

"Nope," Feliciano screamed back, "Not yet." Alessa was up front out of the two horses. Alessa whinnied, softly jumping up. The wind was intense; it had gotten hard to breath at this point. Feliciano gripped the white mane of his horse tightly, It was almost as if he let go he would fall off.

"Should we turn back?" Ludwig shouted after a while, "It's too cold!"

"No way!" Feliciano shouted at the top of his lungs, the wind making it seem like a whisper. Yelling at his horse to run, he gently kicked her ribs and the horse reared onto her hind legs, then taking off.

"Feliciano!" Ludwig and Kiku screamed at the same time, Ludwig doing the same to his horse as it sped up, following the young Italian.

Quickly Feliciano sped in the thick cloud of snow, swerving back and forth, the horse quickly sped on.

Ludwig had almost lost sight of Feliciano, trying to keep up with him, Ludwig spat orders to slow down, but because of the wind he couldn't hear. Just as Ludwig and his horse finally almost caught up to Alessa and Feliciano, they both completely disappeared.

"Ludwig?" Kiku yelled above the wind, "Did we lose him?"

"Schiss," The German muttered under his breath, quickly screaming Feliciano's name after.

Almost is clear as day, strangely, Feliciano replied back, "You guys, it stopped snowing up here!"

Ludwig kicked Mitternacht in the ribs, the old horse quickly getting faster.

The black horse dipped out of the wall of white. Feliciano stared back at the two eagerly, "Ludwig, Kiku, check this out!" Ludwig, surprised to see the snow had come to a stop, looked back to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

Kiku jumped off the black horse, "incredible," He muttered, staring at the large wall of snow behind them. The snow just sharply cut off, it was now warm, and nice weather was in front of them.

"Cool, right?" Feliciano chirped, "What do you think caused that?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes, the answer was pretty obvious, and Ivan clearly had gained control of parts of the weather already. And snow, was his favorite. But the wind was most likely the Northern pillar.

The three stopped by at a nearby tree that stood alone. Surveying the area, it seemed like all grassy fields with few trees up ahead, just what the three were used to.

"First of all we need to locate the pillar," Kiku said, "And it clearly somewhere up north." Kiku pointed north, towards a range of purple mountains.

"Why don't we go in that direction?" Feliciano said, "We'll find it along the way."

"Well, what if we're going the wrong way," Ludwig muttered, leaning agenst a tree.

"The goddess said she'll tell me," Feliciano said, making the other two stare at him.

"Well, which way did she say to go?" Kiku said after ten seconds.

Feliciano slid out the staff knotted in his shoulder bag. Pointing it in the north direction, the staff started to glow a purple, and suddenly appearing in the clear sky above the mountains a purple diamond shape object appeared, giving off a red aura at its top.

"That's how!" Feliciano said, pleased with himself.

"Well, that was easy," Ludwig sighed, taking a swig of beer from a bottle he brought. Kiku sat next to Ludwig with a sigh, "We might as well rest here," The Japanese man said quietly.

"Sounds good!" Feliciano said, also sitting down on the other side of Ludwig. He sighed softly, wrapping a scarf around his neck.

"Just a small break though," Ludwig muttered, "There's no need to set up camp or anything."

"Gotcha, Captain," Feliciano said, saluting the older man.

The wind softly blew by, not enough to set anything off, just a soft breeze.

After an hour of talking, watching Feliciano play with his ax, or just plainly sitting there the three decided it would be a good time to leave.

Getting back on his horse, Feliciano fed an apple to his horse, rewarding her for going so fast in the snow.

"That was the best way ever to start this journey that who knows how long it will take, hm?" Ludwig muttered to Kiku quietly, stuffing the now empty carton that used to hold beer into a bag strapped on Mitternacht. The wall of snow was still descending in the background, even though it was maybe a mile away the earth surrounding them was flat, and it could probably be seen for miles.

Ludwig and Feliciano quickly mounted there horses, Kiku then slowly getting onto Mitternacht, "I was never good with animals," he said while climbing on.

The two horses started with a slow trot, making their way through the tall grass, which was going to be seen for miles. Few trees scattered about, few growing apples.

Ludwig yelled ahead, "Feliciano, our check point is that huge white rock up ahead," Ludwig pointed to a mountain that was cracked into two halves, "Instead of looking at this as a huge journey, let's just get there for now." But, even though this was looking at their journey at a smaller scale, getting to that rock mountain would take a while.

The wind picked up. It started to whistle around the blades of grass.

The fire grew quickly, spreading about leaves and sparks flickering against the rocks keeping the fire prisoned. Feliciano had already fallen asleep, but Kiku and Ludwig were still murmuring amongst themselves.

"When do you think we're going to see north?"

"No clue, but I hope we never do."

"Doubt that."

Kiku was sprawled against the grass, reading a book he had brought.

"Kiku, how many times have you read that?" Ludwig muttered, poking the fire with his ax.

"It might help us," Kiku murmured, "It's the whole story about the Pillar legend."

"Most of its probably fake, Kiku."

"No, this is the real one," Kiku whispered, "Says in this part the Goddess chose three warriors those hundred years ago to fight off the pillars, but she won power over Ivan and she no longer had to send them out."

Ludwig eyed Kiku, Kiku took no notice, "I think we're probably the ones the goddess wanted to send."

"So we're in their place, hm?"

"Yes," Kiku said, "I think I know the powers that Mathew was talking about as well, says here that each of them would get their powers when they needed it most. One is air, one is earth, and the last is magic."

"So that's how we're supposed to catch up to north," Ludwig sighed.

"Hopefully," Kiku muttered, "I have my doubts, still."

The two sat there, "Well, if that's not what Mathew was talking about before I'm going to be a bit frightened." Ludwig softly laughed to himself.

"It also says here that the guardians have actual names," Kiku muttered quietly, "North's is Alfred, and that's all anybody knows."

"Probably because he kills them after they find out," Ludwig muttered to himself.

"It's pretty sad if you think about it… They had lives before this, you know." Kiku muttered softly, shutting the book.

"Probably they were mass murders." Ludwig laughed.

The light shifted, everything was bright.

Feliciano woke up to the sound of a small child sobbing. Getting up, he felt a bit dizzy but the feeling quickly dispersed. He quietly got up, then looking around to find where the crying was coming from. Hunched into the fetal position sat a small, blonde-haired boy, his sobs were muffled. Feliciano walked closer carefully, bending down curiously to get a closer look.

"Hello? Are you alright?" Feliciano asked, reaching his hand out to the boy. No response. Feliciano noticed clenched in the boy's hand was a rag- no, now it looked more like a piece of fabric from a torn sleeve, it was soaked in dried blood. He cradled it close to his cheek, murmuring something softly, which sounded like a name that Feliciano couldn't make out.

"Are you alright?" Feliciano asked again, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. Instead of resting on it like it should have, Feliciano's hand went right through him. He let out a shriek in shock, surprised that his hand literally went through the boys shoulder.

"I get it!" The Italian yelled, "This is just a dream!"

But slowly the boy looked up, revealing a pair of bright purple eyes, and a bouncy curl were his part was. Just like Mathew's.

Feliciano turned, noticing he was in a wooden house of some sort. It was small, and a total wreck. On the stairs near the top were a few drops of the dried blood.

Suddenly the background flashed white, then faded into black, the goddess standing there, with a panicked but yet gentle feel.

"Did you see any of that?" The goddess said softly to Feliciano, reaching her hand out.

"I'm… pretty sure?" Feliciano muttered.

"Sorry, I've been trying to help north remember some things, might be easier to take him down if he does. You might get those flash backs a lot, I apologize." Pangaea muttered.

"That's alright!" Feliciano chirped happily.

"Oh yes, I forgot," Pangaea walked closer to the Italian, "Call him Alfred instead, that might help."

"Hm? How?" Feliciano asked.

"It just will, I'm sorry, I've been really busy lately, I cant really talk right now-," Pangaea said quickly, and everything turned white again. The world around the Italian was now a blue sky.

Feliciano sat up, yawning and stretching loudly. A field of green surrounding him.

"Good morning!" Feliciano screamed, waking up the other two men.

Ludwig moaned, "Feliciano…" He murmured.

"Good morning…" Kiku whispered tiredly.

The three set off, first putting out the fire and then jumping on their horses, making their way to the big white rock.

"Pangaea talked to me last night!" Feliciano chirped, turning backwards on his horse to watch the two men behind him.

"Oh really?" Ludwig muttered.

"What did she say?" Kiku asked, leaning over Ludwig.

"She said that I should call the Northern Pillar Alfred, and somehow that will help us?" Feliciano said it with a bit of questioning, "I don't know how yet, though."

Kiku nodded, "that was the guardian's name before… well before this. I don't know how that would help, though."

Feliciano turned the right way on his horse, facing the fields in front of him. He gently kicked Alessa in the ribs as she grew faster. The two horses galloped through the fields.

The wind started to grow swifter and harder, beating against the grass.

"How long will this take, Ludwig?" Feliciano yelled back.

"A while," Ludwig said, "we get there when we get there."

"I think I'm going to die of boredom," Feliciano muttered.

"So, is North like... air and stuff?" Feliciano yelled back.

"Yes, he has the air element, Feli." Ludwig called, interrupted by a loud gust of wind.

The horses whinnied; dirt flew around whatever had caused a disturbance in the air. Something else smacked the air. The dirt cleared, revealing a pair of wings which were still pointing towards the sky.

"Wow, I was expecting more than this," a voice hissed. The dirt suddenly disappeared in a bang, the young Northern guardian in its wake.

"Wow, this is actually really sad." He bit his lip, his red eyes flashing bright gold, "That's really, really sad."

The three stared at him, frozen.

"Well, um, hi," He said awkwardly, "I'm the guy who's gonna kill you in like a week or something, nice to meet you three."

Feliciano finally processed everything and screamed, his horse rearing and taking off in circles around Mitternacht. The guardian laughed as Feliciano went quickly in circles. "Oh dear god, is that actually the three warriors the goddess is sending?" He muttered a curse, but it was drowned out by Feliciano who was still screaming.

"Feli!" Ludwig screamed at the Italian, getting off his horse, "stop screaming, you idiot!"

"Nah," The guardian suddenly appeared in front of the shocked German, "He has a total right to, I'm pretty scary." North laughed briefly.

"Where did you come from?" Ludwig yelled, turning around to were the American was standing before.

"Oh, I came from over there." The guardian said simply, pointing back to where he was standing.

Feliciano came to a stop on his horse for a brief moment. North appeared before Feliciano quickly, flapping his wings slowly, "Heey."

Feliciano screamed again, "I-it's the n-n-northern pillar!" He took off on his horse again, running in circles.

"Well duh, who else is it?" The pillar guardian said stupidly.

Feliciano continued to scream, causing his horse to still run in circles.

"C'mon, do... something!" The guardian yelled somewhat pathetically. Ludwig sighed as Feliciano still ran in circles. North groaned, pulling out a small black dagger with a strange shape from the back of his jacket, "Fine, i'll do this myself." He said to himself softly. He then threw the dagger like a frisbee, almost nailing the Italian in the back., a gust of swift wind following it. Feliciano successfully dodged the object, but at the same time fell of Alessa, rolling in the grass a few times. Alessa came to a stop shortly after, making normal horse noises.

The American laughed, "Wow that was fun!" Suddenly, he got quickly serous, as the dagger flew back in his direction, he caught it by the handle and crept toward the Italian, his wings making quickly flutters in the air, "But now its time for the party to start~!"

"Stay away from him, you freak!" Ludwig hissed, quickly lunging toward the American, ax raised above his shoulders. Ludwig brought the huge ax down, only to find that his target had quickly slipped away. "Over here!" The American called in a quiet but taunting voice. Now Kiku almost nailed him in the back with his own sword, but the guardian flung himself into the air. The dagger grew in length, as the American slammed it back down into the green land underneath.

"Why won't you fight!" Ludwig screamed, leaning the ax-head to the ground.

The guardian smiled, "I was hoping you'd ask that."

Holding up his hand, a light blue light slowly surrounded it, "Think i'm weak, huh?" he hissed, Kiku suddenly collapsing to the ground, "You are like, little tiny bugs to me!"

"I c-can't-!" Kiku muttered, Ludwig rushing to his side. Kiku put his hands around his neck, trying to pry off the hands that weren't there. The guardian laughed at the sight off the Japanese man in total pain, coughing and struggling for air, this was a game to the teen.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Feliciano screamed, basically in tears.

"What you asked!" the guardian said in a sly tone, the crack in his voice almost entirely disappearing. He made a fist, causing Kiku to struggle for air even harder.

"you're going to kill him!" Ludwig screamed, charging for the younger male, ax head pointed straight at him.

"Thats the point, dude!" The American laughed, a light blue forcefield appearing between Ludwig and himself.

"S-stop it, you're hurting him!" Feliciano cried, getting up from laying on his stomach, "Alfred, just stop!"

The blue aura disappeared around the young guardian's hand, Kiku left gasping and panting for air,the force field also disappearing. "Wh-what..?" North whispered softly, turning around to face the Italian behind him, "what?" he screamed it this time, the wings on his back spreading out. Feliciano whimpered and flinched at the sudden outburst.

But the teen paused, the wings on his back disappearing into black smoke. He sighed softly, "Alfred... Thats my name..." he bit his lip, pondering over the word, "I almost forgot I had a name." The guardian stared at the ground, lost in some world of thought.

Ludwig finally stopped staring at the younger male, and quickly struck him on the cheekbone with the massive ax. The guardian heard the whistle of the ax coming straight for his head, snapping him out of his trance but it was too late. The ax-blade ut a four-inch-long cut into his cheekbone, all the way done to below his ear.

The young guardian cried out in pain briefly, falling to his knees. brushing away some of the blood with his hand, he growled softly, "Idiots, how dare you mess with me!"

Feliciano crawled to Kiku's side with a soft whisper, "are you alright?" Kiku managed a smile and the thumbs up.

The guardian looked at the three, "you know what? i'll kill you later! in the most terrible way possible!" he said slyly, a small giggle after words, "just like the rest!"

Ludwig turned to Feliciano and Kiku, worried and at the same time unsure about the guardian.

"Just like the rest..." The american looked down, now it was clear he wasn't talking to the three he was talking to himself. Suddenly anger rushed out, "Just like all of the puny warriors the goddess sends me! Die in the rain! in the mud with no respect!" North screamed, making Feliciano hide behind Kiku, and Ludwig flinch from the sudden outburst. The guardian lost his anger, and started laughing hysterically.

The other three men looked at eachother in question.

"Bye, for now!" The american said in a hushed voice, still giggling to himself. The huge dark grey wings appeared from black mist, and with one strong beat of the air he was gone.

"That was... interesting..." Ludwig muttered, 'Kiku, you alright?"

"Yes," The Japanese man responded dryly, "just a bit shaken up."

"You alright to move?"

"Yes, it was only my neck, i'm fine now."

The German nodded in response. Feliciano looked over the two.

"That was scary!" He explained with a smile, "Ludwig can we go now?"

"Um, yes, sure " Ludwig muttered, surprised that the Italian would already want to get back on track.

"Okie dokie!" Feliciano yelled, saluting the older man while running back over to his horse. While boarding the horse Feliciano let out a small yell; "pasta!"

The three went on there way once again, swiftly running across the green, long fields. a bruise had started to form around Kiku's neck. Kiku poked around at its bumpy feel, and then simply left it alone. The two horses raced for the large rock ahead, and in between its large crack was the Northern Pillar, the black blue aura coming from its top acting as a beacon.

"Hey, Ludwig?" Feliciano yelled back after a while.

"What, Feli?" Ludwig replied.

"What about the special powers thing Mathew was talking about?"

"Oh yeah," Ludwig muttered to himself. "I don't know yet, we'll find out though," Ludwig yelled to Feliciano over the whistling of the wind. Another pounding sounded like horses hooves began to follow them. It was softer than hooves, but yet was faster at the same rate the three men were going.

Kiku turned around on Mitternacht to see what was causing the pounding. Ludwig and Feliciano payed no noticed to it. Then, a bright orange tiger was aligned with Mitternacht, but the scary thing was someone was on top of it.

"Hey?" The man on the tiger said quietly, waving his hand at Kiku, "Could you pull over?"

Kiku turned back around and poked Ludwig on the shoulder, "I think I found that guy Matthew was talking about."

After the three had settled down in the grass, Feliciano clinging to Ludwig because "oh my god thats a tiger!"

"Hi, i'm Hercules," The man said plainly, leaning against his tiger, "I love cats."

"Um, yes, we could see that..." Ludwig muttered quietly.

"Did Matthew ever tell you about me?" Hercules said very slowly.

"Um, yes," Kiku said, "Weren't you supposed to tell us about the-?"

"The powers? Yes," Hercules nodded, avoiding glance with the three.

"Why do you have a tiger?" Feliciano said stupidly.

Hercules shrugged.

"Sooo, the powers, thing?" Ludwig said, shoving Feliciano off of him.

"Oh, yeah," Hercules got up, taking the staff from Feliciano's hands, "I need to see this for a second."

"Hey! You just can't take that-!" Ludwig hissed, Hercules turning around to face the east.

"It's right about... here," Hercules said in a whisper, poking the air with the staff. The orb at its end flashed, and without warning a twisting turning yellow light appeared in mid air, almost like the eye of the hurricane. It grew bigger, and then the middle turned into a dessert.

"Alright, lets go," Hercules said, still holding onto the staff, walking into the yellow portal.

"Wait, i'm not going in there!" Ludwig growled.

"C'mon, Luddy! the goddess says we should!" Feliciano laughed, following the Greek and his tiger.

"Whatever the goddess says I will do!" Kiku said with a shrug, dipping into the portal.

"Fine," Ludwig followed the other two men.

"Wow, its hot in here!" Feliciano called, the portal closing behind Ludwig.

"It is a dessert," Hercules said from up ahead, plopping into the sand. It was soft, snow like sand, hills for miles, with a orange-pink sky.

"The sky here reminds me of home," Kiku sighed softly.

"Where did you get your kitty?" Feliciano asked, petting the tigers head.

"Don't know, she loves me." Hercules responded as the other two walked closer.

Kiku and Ludwig sat down next to the tiger, Feliciano on the other side of it, playing with her tail. It appeared Hercules had given the staff back to Feliciano.

"Matthew told you about why I am here?" Hercules said quietly.

"Yes, but, um, he only said something about powers?" Ludwig said, shifting in the sand.

"Oh, yeah," Hercules said, "You guys each have your own element that you'll control," he said calmly, Kiku and Ludwig looking at him awfully surprised. Feliciano payed no attention, for he was too busy playing with the tiger.

"Um, what?" Feliciano said, looking up.

"So you'll all be able to withstand hits better," Hercules added, "Kiku your wind, Ludwig your earth, and Feliciano your magic."

"Wait, how do we use them, when do we get them-?" Ludwig asked, cut off by Hercules.

"Well, Kiku gets his first."

"Oh, to take on the northern pillar, correct?" Kiku asked.

Hercules nodded, "The goddess has sent me to train you how to use them, the other two will follow later."

"Feliciano, Ludwig, you can both take a break, we might be here for a little while." Hercules said, standing up, "Training starts now."


End file.
